The Nuestra Senora
de la Concepcion was a Manila Galleon that wrecked on the island
of Saipan in 1638 when sailing from Manila to Acapulco. She was
discovered in 1987 by Pacific Sea Resources Inc., a company founded
by Bill Mathers. Excavation was carried out over two seasons,
four months in 1987 and six months in 1988. As it transpired,
the ship struck a fringing reef at the point of Agingan Bay, then
ground along the reef for nearly a kilometre leaving a trail of
ballast stones and artefacts. She eventually came to rest against
the reef in the centre of the bay. Eddy currents swept over a
hundred stoneware storage jars well out into the bay, depositing
them in up to 75 metres of water.

Mathers pioneered responsible
archaeological excavation by a commercial company, spending large
sums of money on computerised documentation systems and commissioning
expert research into the recovered artefacts. Flecker acted as
Project Engineer and Dive Operations Manager during both seasons
of excavation work.

Spread

In the first season
operations were conducted from a supply boat with a crew of 20.
Diving utilised both scuba and surface supplied AH3 helmets, while
air lifts were used for excavation. In the second season a 46
metre long rig support vessel was used, with a crew of up to 30.
Scuba, hooka, and the AH3 were used for diving, with in-water
decompression. A 3-man mini-submersible and an observation bell
were also used for short periods. High powered water dredges were
driven by the ship's fire monitor pump.

Recovered Cargo

The cargo consisted
largely of intricately worked gold jewellery, some encrusted with
gem stones. There was also a wide variety of storage jars, cannon
balls, and metal artefacts. The late Ming blue-and-white porcelain
that originally made up a large portion of the cargo did not fare
well after 350 years of typhoons.

The cargo was sold
as a complete collection to a Japanese company that planned to
build a hotel on Saipan. They intended to display the finds in
a museum in the foyer of the hotel. Unfortunately, due to economic
circumstances, the hotel was never built. The Japanese company
has returned the collection to the Government of the Northern
Mariana Islands where it is now on public display.